


Nights Like These

by HeartShaped



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Boyfriends, Canon Compliant, Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M, Read at Your Own Risk, don't get diabetes, they're just in love, this is literally just fluff, very in love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-22
Updated: 2020-11-22
Packaged: 2021-03-10 00:01:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,975
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27674426
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HeartShaped/pseuds/HeartShaped
Summary: They haven’t seen each other for more than a week, and it’s taking a bigger toll on Haechan than he would ever admit. But they’ve been so good lately, Mark and him. It’s hard to explain, because their relationship has never been bad, just a bit young, maybe. A little more nervous and unexperienced in the love department.But they’ve been together for more than a year now, been boyfriends for over a year now, and it’s never been like this before.
Relationships: Lee Donghyuck | Haechan/Mark Lee
Comments: 18
Kudos: 200





	Nights Like These

**Author's Note:**

> this is just something short and sweet for u to enjoy :)

“Everything is easier when you’re in love”

That’s what Haechan’s mother told him, when he stood bug-eyed on thin legs and asked, in that curious voice that seems to be reserved for five-year olds only, what being in love is like.

Fifteen years later, twenty-year-old Haechan has a lot more experience with love than he did back then and can testify that love definitely isn’t as simple as his mother made it sound.

At fourteen it was hard. It was having constantly sweaty palms and a racing heart, it was having the same terrifying thought eco through his head at all times: _what if he knows, what if he knows, what if he knows._

At fifteen and sixteen it was just confusing. It was feeling like he could run a marathon because of a glance his way and feeling like he could jump of a cliff at every glance directed at someone else.

At seventeen it was hell. It was having a sore throat from screaming and a headache from crying too hard. It was feeling out of place in his own body, it was the feeling of wanting something so, so badly despite knowing he couldn’t have it.

Eighteen was better. Eighteen brought spring. It was feeling relived. It was whispers of I’m sorry’s and tight embraces. It was finding his way back home.

Haechan will never forget love at nineteen. Love at nineteen was, for the first time in his life, required love. Required love at the streets of New York, at Miami beach. Under sun and on stage, in front of hundreds and hundreds of people. It was trembling hands and shy smiles and whispers of “is this alright?” in tour bus bunks and a love long, long overdue.

And fifteen years later, Haechan thinks he finally gets it. After having about as many ups and downs as humanly possible, after crying and laughing and being scared and feeling nervous, he gets it. It was hard to get here, but now, finally, love makes life feel right.

Why else would he be sitting here, curled up on the couch on the tenth floor at three in the morning, just to be able to welcome Mark Lee the second he gets home? Or more accurately, why else would he be wholly content with doing so?

When he has work in the morning, when his eyes start to droop and the couch feels more comfortable than ever before, the image of Mark’s giddy smile in the doorway keeps him up. He has no problem being tired in the morning when he knows Mark will be there with him.

He had texted him a couple of hours earlier and asked when they’d be arriving, but he doesn’t think that Mark had suspected anything by it. Usually they would meet first thing in the morning, when Dream or SuperM schedules keep them apart, but tonight it seemed impossible to fall asleep. How could he, when in just a couple of hours Mark would return to him?

The van should be here any minute now. Maybe he’ already in the elevator. Haechan grins at the thought of Mark hugging his pillow on the way up, probably looking all soft around the edges and ready to be cuddled.

They haven’t seen each other for more than a week, and it’s taking a bigger toll on Haechan than he would ever admit. But they’ve been so good lately, Mark and him. It’s hard to explain, because their relationship has never been _bad_ , just a bit young, maybe. A little more nervous and unexperienced in the love department.

But they’ve been together for more than a year now, been _boyfriends_ for over a year now, and it’s never been like this before.

Their smiles have been softer, like at morning practice, sleepy eyes finding each other in the mirror. Mark’s shy grin as Haechan raises a brow.

At lunch, on their way to their specially reserved table at some Chinese restaurant with Marks hand covering his for just a moment. “Where do you want to sit?” Haechan’s face mask covering the red on his cheeks when he mumbles “next to you.”

At night, right before leaving each other for bed, with Marks dopey smile in his Vancouver shirt as he raises a hand to thumb at the scar right above Haechan’s eyebrow. “G’night baby.” Haechan’s stomach interrupting in thousand tiny little butterflies, but not in the frantic skittish way he got so used to in his teen years, but a more slow warm feeling that colour his cheeks pink with affection.

Haechan will never stop teasing Mark, but having this side to their relationship as well is comfortable and secure and _fun_ , in ways that he didn’t think it could be. It reminds him of his mom and dad, of couples that last a long, long time. It’s- well. It’s _domestic_ , Haechan think’s giddily, allowing himself to blush freely at the thought alone in the dark living room.

He’s just about to close his eyes for a bit, warm under the blanket and lost in the thoughts of him and Mark growing old together when he hears the rustling of keys from the hallway. He lays awake listening to the door open and excitedly untangles himself from the blanket when he hears Mark sigh from the hall.

It’s almost completely dark in the living room, only the city lights shining in through the windows. Haechan snickers as Mark starts to make his way over to his room, completely unaware that he has someone waiting for him.

This would be perfect for a good scare, Haechan thinks, but now really isn’t the time. Instead he stretches over to the lamp beside him and turns it on. “Hey,” he hisses, almost worried that Mark won’t notice him at all.

But Mark turns around, big eyes staring at Haechan from under his fringe. “Jesus Christ,” he wheezes, bringing a hand to his chest. “You scared me.” Haechan giggles at his reaction as Mark drops his bag and walks as quietly as he can over to him.

“You waited up for me?” He asks, just a little louder than a whisper, voice grainy with sleep. He probably slept on the flight.

“Yeah. Off course,” Haechan smiles and tugs at Mark’s hand to get him to stand in between his thighs. It’s only then that it hits him, how much he truly has missed Mark. Haechan brings him closer by winding his arms around the other boy’s middle, burying his face in the soft fabric of his well used t-shirt, inhaling the scent of home. “Wanted to surprise you.”

Mark hums and cards his hands through Haechan’s hair. “Thank, you. You did.” His voice sounds so loving that Haechan just _has_ to look up at Mark, who looks back with just as much excitement hidden behind droopy eyes. Which reminds him,

“hey, do you wanna get to bed? You look tired.”

Mark smiles, handsome and dimpled as he gently tugs on Haechan’s ear for a second, before he decides to just fall down on Haechan’s lap, straddling his thighs. “No,” he says promptly, a teasing lilt to his voice, hugging the other boy’s shoulders. Haechan smiles into his boyfriend’s shoulder. Always full of surprises.

He hums and places his hands on Mark’s sides, rubs up and down gently. “What do you wanna do then, babe?”

Mark sighs a small breath of satisfaction and relaxes even further into Haechan’s embrace, nuzzling his face into the younger boy’s jaw. “I wanna hear how you’ve had it. I missed you.”

Love glows, when it’s like this. It starts from somewhere in between his ribs and flows through him, all the way out to his fingertips. It’s what he feels when he hears Mark’s words. That glowing feeling, all over. It comes out in giggles, and he has to sway the both of them from side to side to calm his excitement.

Mark raises his head at that, brows lifting in curiosity. “What?”

“It’s nothing, Mark- I just,” Haechan lets out a breath as he looks at the boy in front of him. _His_ _boy_. “I missed you too.” He leans over to kiss his cheeks, they’re warm to the touch, making him smile even harder.

They stay like that for a while, talking in hushed voices about the past week, hands never leaving each other.

It’s crazy, if someone had told Haechan growing up that he would get to have Mark like this, he would have fainted on the spot. If someone had told him that Mark voluntarily would be like _this_ , bold and needy and _clingy_ , he would have laughed in their face at the sick attempt of a joke.

They’ve really grown up, the both of them. They still fight, over things that the usual couple don’t need to worry about. _Cameras_ and _fans_ and the fear of being _exposed_.

Those are the hardest ones. When the world feels unfair and they feel impossible.

But they bicker about other things as well, things that in some wicked way, Haechan enjoys just a little, because it makes him feel as though they’re just a normal couple arguing over things like who paid for the last date and whose bed they should sleep in that night.

It doesn’t happen often nowadays though, which _might_ be due to Mark getting better at opening up and Haechan practicing at telling people sorry.

And now they’re at a good place. It’s scary thinking about the future. Off course, if Haechan got to decide they would just keep going like this forever until they’re old and grey, but taking it one day at a time is always what has worked best for them.

But there are times, nights like these, when Haechan stands next to Mark in the bathroom brushing their teeth, when Mark squints happily at him in the mirror and bumps their hips together before they giddily drag each other to bed, when Haechan lets himself fantasise about a future just like this, except they’re in their own shared bathroom, their own shared bed (their own shared _home_ ).

And when Mark pushes him into the covers and kisses him square on the mouth, tired eyes looking at him with so much love Haechan feels like he’s floating, he believes that Mark feels exactly the same way.

He’s just about to fall asleep when Mark stops him for the second time that night. “Hey,” he whispers.

“Hm?” Haechan squints in the dark to where the sound of Mark’s voice came from, nuzzling closer, letting his breath fan over Mark’s jaw. “What is it baby?”

“Thank you. For tonight,” Mark says into his hair, holding Haechan just a bit firmer. “Waiting up for me like that.”

Haechan lets out a sound not far from a purr, encouraging him to keep going.

Mark giggles and starts rubbing his back, voice so achingly fond as he continues. _“I’m so happy you exist. You’re the best boyfriend ever. I can’t believe how amazing you are.”_

“Uh huh,” Haechan mumbles, and Mark’s giggles again.

_“You’re so gorgeous, every day. You make me a better person.”_ Mark’s hands start moving lighter, ticklish on his tummy.

_“I love you so, so much baby,”_ and Haechan can hear the smile in Mark’s voice as he starts to squirm, trying to get away from the teasing hands.

It get’s impossible to hold his laughter in when Mark’s mouth move down to his neck, pressing feather light kisses along his throat. _“Baby. Pretty baby. My pretty boy.”_

They keep their eyes close as they giggle, quiet in the night.

But if they would have opened them, they would’ve seen the way they both seemed to be glowing at the outlines. Glowing from the middle of their ribs, out to their fingertips.

**Author's Note:**

> thank u for reading!! this was VERY self indulgent. hehe.


End file.
